The Legend of Spyro: The Heart of Convexity
by Bmao
Summary: Takes place a few years after Eternal Night, after Spyro and Cynder escape mountain of Malefor. Still trapped in convexity, the Dark Master unveils a plan to engulf all the in worlds. Kingdom Hearts inspired. Spyro/Cynder. Bad at making summary, just R@
1. Chapter 1, Heart of Convexity

**The Legend of Spyro: The Heart of Convexity**

Legal stuff: I do not own Spyro the Dragon, or any other character depicted in this fanfiction story. They are the property of their respective authors and any writer who wishes to use my characters are free to do so in a non-profit sense.

Spyro is one of my favorite video game series, and I'd thought I'd take some time to write about it. Recently, I had been surfing on and had read a story about Spyro in a Kingdom Hearts type story. To tell you the truth, and being a college student I'm little ashamed to admit it, I actually found the idea using the Spyro characters quite interesting. So therefore I'm going to write about it. As such, I'm going to have to give Crossover Helper credit for the original idea.

But don't just think I'll be retelling the Kingdom Hearts story only with the characters from the Spyro series. For one, all the preceeding events prior to the story are accurate up until the end of Eternal Night. What I'm attempting is to incorporate elements and themes from Kingdom Hearts into this story, along with other fan theories so that the events from the Legend of Spyro series would connect coherently to this story. I'll combine all the other Spyro games into this universe, but be warned I haven't played them all, so much of what I do is going be patched together in the crudest way. Most likely, it'll end up being a whole bunch of nonsense, but I just can't get the idea out of my head now, so I'll write until I get sick of it.

When Dawn of the Dragon came out, this obviously placed continuity errors upon the original story I had in mind. I've formulated too much of the plot, as changing it now in order to fit the rest of the story would essentially be a rewrite. So instead, I'm offering a point of departure, which means, a different event occurred, causing a different outcome.

At the end of Eternal Night, Spyro and Cynder are trapped within the Well of Souls. But to make the story work, let us presume that they manage to find an exit and escape Indiana Jones style. In DOTD, it was said that while Spyro and Cynder were trapped in the crystal, the Dark Master had been able to escape from Convexity. The fact that Spyro and Cynder escaped may somehow have prevented him from doing so, therefore, the Dark Master has to find another way to strike at Spyro.

One other question has struck me ever since the beginning of the Legend of Spyro series. Where are all the other dragons? I mean, surely they couldn't have all been killed? My theory is that the dragons were teleported to other realms, leaving some of the Dark Master's subordinates to deal with those dragons. Thus, with all those other dragons gone, the Dark Master would more easily be able to combat Spyro.

Therefore, the Dark Master bides his time, and the story starts a few years after Eternal Night, roughly at the same time Dawn of the Dragon would have started. Only the adventure Spyro would go on this time would put all the others to shame. (Or so I hope)

You'll probably recognize the opening scene as the one from Kingdom Hearts. Anyhow, I don't mind if you like it or not, just read it and give me some comments, and I'll be satisfied. Here it goes...

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**Chapter 1**

**Scattered memories**

I've been asking myself this quite often lately…

Like… is this my true purpose? Or not?

Am I the only one who feels that, somehow, that's not all there is to it?

If so, will there ever be an end to it?

Spyro the Dragon had a strange sensation of falling. It was cold. Desolate. It felt kind of like… he was falling through a vortex that led to nowhere. Rather than fight it, Spyro leaned back so that his body was streamlined parallel to the direction that he fell. With only Spyro's own senses to guide him, before long it felt as if he were soaring up to the stars far beyond the heavens themselves, rather than falling into the abyss. With that, came a sense of exhilaration, of absolute freedom. Perhaps it was because of that illusion that he was rising rather than falling, that before long a light at the end of the tunnel appeared. Spyro closed his wings against his back and rose toward it, faster and faster. The light, which had started out small and dim, grew brighter and brighter, the black retreating before it, to the point where the light threatened to blind Spyro.

At the last moment, Spyro turned away from the light and snapped his eyes shut, finding momentary sanctuary in the darkness.

When Spyro opened his eyes again, he found himself back at his home, the Dragon Temple. High atop a peak, the temple stood guard over an expanse of fertile greenery and gentle rivers. However, something caught Spyro's eye. There was a large rock, equal in height to the Dragon Temple, which Spyro knew wasn't there before, that jut out directly out of the otherwise peaceful valley. Upon it was perched a young, well-built red dragon about Spyro's age. He squinted at the figure. Wasn't that Flame?

The red dragon was looking up at something. It was that swirling black vortex, hanging ominously in the air, where Spyro had fallen in limbo indefinitely. .

Spyro, seeing no choice but to act, spread his wings and charged out to his friend. In his haste, Spyro did not notice that in the meantime, the vortex began to spin and suck air into it. However, Flame didn't seemed alarmed at all. Instead, he appeared as if he were smiling as he extended a claw out to his friend.

Before he knew it, the portal had swallowed both him and Flame, but Flame looked as though he were still perched upon that rock, unaffected by the darkness. Spyro drifted for a moment, watching Flame extend his claw out to his friend once more. Spyro swiped at it, desperately trying to reach it, yet it was all for naught, as the black wind once again took hold of him and sent him tumbling into the darkness. He tried to yell out for help, but no sound came out of his mouth as he fell deeper and deeper into the darkness…

Until… he was rescued…

Spyro opened his eyes again, when he realized he was no longer falling again. Upon gaining his senses again, he found himself back at his home, upon that rock where Flame had stood.

There was a figure back at the temple. On that ledge was a young dragoness whose dark indigo scales gleamed in the twilight, calling his name with a beautiful smile across her face. Spyro's heart thudded and filled with joy as he waved back at her with his wing.

Spryo lifted off, beating his wings against the air to reach her. As he reached the ledge, Spyro looked up at her, somewhat exhausted, yet managing to return her smile. Cynder couldn't help but giggle at that goofy expression, placing a wing over her jaw so that she wouldn't burst out laughing.

The moment was rudely interrupted however, when a small figure broke their eye contact. It was Sparx, who hovered between the two with his arms folded, reprimanding them with an amused shaking of his head. Spyro flexed his brow at his brother, and sniffed him away, thus allowing him to continue doing what he had been doing with Cynder uninterrupted.

Spyro was confused however, when Cynder curved her neck upward, pointing with an extended claw. There was something in the sky. No, it wasn't a cloud. Curious, Spyro craned his neck around to see what had caught her attention. He was amazed at what he saw.

Someone, it was a dragon, was falling. At first, Spyro didn't know what to make of it, but then he recognized that dragon as none other than himself!!

Spyro's eyes went wide at the sudden realization, but before he could speak with Cynder about it, the ground beneath him began glow black and began pulling down at Spyro's legs. Cynder reached out a claw; and Spyro desperately tried to grab hold, but missed, and felt himself fall. Spyro looked up to see Cynder shouting something, yet no sound was coming out of her mouth. In a desperate effort, Spyro flapped his wings, yet that invisible force kept pulling him downwards. Suddenly, the image of Cynder vanished into darkness, Spyro, still falling, falling, down to the edge of nowhere.

There was a flash. Spyro was still falling, falling, falling… Yet just when Spyro thought he was doomed to fall forever, he felt his descent gradually slow down. The invisible force still carried him, yet now he felt more like a leaf falling from a tree. A few moments later, his feet mysteriously landed upon something solid.

Once Spyro regained his senses, he looked around. The first thing he noticed was that the area was surprisingly well lit. On every side he could see planets, stars, comets and other objects of the cosmos. Still, not a soul was in sight. No Cynder. No Sparx. No Flame. No Ignitus. Nobody.

This was no time to panic. After all, this wasn't the first time that Spyro had found himself teleported to extra-dimentional locales within his dreams. Gathering his courage, Spyro took a step forward. As he did so, a flash of light burst forth from the ground, forcing Spyro to place his wings over his face to block it out. When the light subsided to a more manageable level, Spyro lowered his wing to examine what had happened. He was standing on a rather large platform, with a stained glass picture of a pure white dragoness, who appeared to be praying. Though he hardly had a clue as to who this could possibly be, there was no doubting the serenity and purity of her image. By her looks, such a dragoness would be so opposed to violence that she would hesitate even to hunt.

Though entranced by the elaborate artistry, Spyro was immediately more concerned with why he was here in the first place.

"Hello?" shouted Spyro, tilting his head into the air.

"Anybody there?"

"Chronicler?" he asked.

He listened for the ancient dragon's deep, resonating voice. Before long, a voice did contact Spyro, yet it was the voice of a female dragon.

_Hello Spyro…_

Spyro's heart skipped a beat.

_I am honored that I would finally get the chance to meet you dear one. _

"Um…who are you?" said Spyro. It made him rather uncomfortable that a female voice would be calling him dear one, but the voice honestly sounded very kind.

_It pains me more than anything else that I cannot reveal myself to you Spyro, but know that I have watched you since the day you came into the world, through all the good times and bad._

"So you're like the Chronicler then?" replied Spyro.

The voice giggled lovingly, like a mother correcting a newborn hatchling, before responding.

_You might say that. _

"Oh…all right," said Spyro, both flattered and confused.

"What is this place anyhow?" asked Spyro.

_This place? Perhaps it is inaccurrate to even describe where you are as a place. It simply is what you make it to be._

Dreamworld then, concluded Spyro.

_However, I have been forced to contact you in such a message to deliver a warning, _she said with genuine regret.

"About the Dark Master? Tell me, has he been freed?" said Spyro.

_No, I have ensured that he still remains dormant in convexity…_

_But you have little time…_

There was an ominous pause.

_The paths are still closed, but soon they will open._

"Paths? What are you talking about?"

_You see Spyro, there are wrinkles in space and time, of which there are some that take us to other worlds. When the Dark Master started to regain his strength, and send his minions after our kind, I sent most of your kind to safety in other worlds, so that they would be safe. So that by the time the Dark Master escaped my hold, he would be isolated, and that you would be able to destroy the Dark Master on your own. Yet something unforeseen happened in my plan, as he now seeks to open the paths to these other worlds, and will seek to control them, if not destroy them._

"So you want me to stop him from doing so?" replied Spyro. He was one who preferred simple answers, yet how was he supposed to even get to these worlds, never mind stop the Dark Master from taking them over?

"Yet, if the Dark Master would have the power to destroy all the worlds, how would I be able to possibly stop him?" he asked.

_You will discover in time Spyro, for the power to do so rests inside of you. Now, step through the door._

An archway appeared out of nowhere, and the invisible barrier surrounding the platform disappeared. A series of small platforms rose up one after another (he'd always wondered just where they came from) leading to another large, circular platform.

Dutifully, Spyro made his way across to the next platform, landing softly on all fours.

Like the previous platform this one also had a picture depicting a female dragoness. Only this dragoness was red, and quite tough looking. It showed the dragoness breathing a huge beam of fire toward a group of unseen, shadowy enemies, and by her fierce, proud features, gave the impression that she would sooner slash someone than introduce herself.

Accompanying the Fire dragoness in her battle was another female creature that resembled a bipedal fox. It was a faun; Spyro had read about the long-lost race in books he had read in the dragon temple's archives. A light robe covered her body, as the faun appeared to be readying a spell from the end of her hand. Spyro's opinion was that the faun would have been more fitting accompanying that serene white dragoness he had seen on the previous platform rather than the fire dragoness, so they made a rather strange duo. Spyro could not begin to guess the identity of this dragoness, never mind her partner.

_Throughout the worlds, you will face numerous foes that wish to bring you down._

Spyro noticed something dark shift in the ground in front of him. The dark spots rose out of the ground and coalesced into shapes, and then into dark creatures. By this he was taken aback and unwittingly took a small step backward. They looked like apes in a sense, in that they appeared to be rather brainless, yet none of them appeared to have any facial features.

_There are times when you will have to fight._

The shadow creatures clawed the air in a threatening manner. Spyro crouched into his fighting stance, ready to give these enemies just what they deserved.

_Use your power to protect yourself and others._

Suddenly, one of these things lunged at Spyro, forcing Spyro to dodge to the side. After a couple of good whacks with his claws and horns, it exploded into black mist. The other creatures had managed to close on Spyro by that time, prompting the dragon to dodge backwards, causing each of the creatures to miss completely. Now bunched together, it left Spyro with a clear shot to give them a good old-fashioned barbeque. They twitched for a while, before also biting the dust, literally.

"No problem!!" said Spyro exuberantly. He'd faced enemies far tougher than that, but then again those stone statues the Chronicler had made him face had been powered down from their real life equivalants at the elemental sanctually, so he couldn't form an accurate diagnosis of these creatures actual strength yet, whatever they were. Still, they didn't seem like anything Spyro couldn't handle, having after all defeated Dark Cynder and Gaul, along with many others in between and afterwards.

_Very good Spyro, your fighting prowess is indeed impressive. I can see why she likes you._

"Huh?" replied Spyro, his hide turning a dark shade of magenta. Spyro had a very good feeling who the voice was referring to in that last statement.

_Let us move on then…_

An archway blinked into existence, followed by another series of smallish platforms leading to yet another one of those large platforms.

The platform was similar to the previous two that Spyro had been on. This too had a picture of a young female dragon. His eyes went wide when he recognized the dragoness as none other than his friend Cynder. Guess the voice knew Spyro better than he suspected.

Yet this also gave Spyro a sense of consternation.

"W-what's the point to all this? Tell me, is something going to happen to Cynder?" cried Spyro, finding himself more concerned about that prospect than even the notion of the Dark Master taking over the worlds, or rather all the worlds. He remembered, during his meeting with the Chronicler, how the ancient dragon mentioned that Cynder's path was inevitably one of darkness. Yet as far as that picture went, there was nothing to indicate an ill fate, nor whether her fate would be a positive one. It was simply her portrait on a gray background.

_None cannot possibly know what the future holds, yet what will come to pass ultimately depends upon what you hold true Spyro, what you believe your calling to be._

"My calling?" said Spyro. It was something that never really entered his mind very often. Mostly, he'd been told to seek out certain individuals, or stop some bad guy who was terrorizing a region and in league with the Dark Master.

_So Spyro, what is it that you value most?_

"My friends and family."

_Friends and family? Is this really such a big deal? _the voice replied in a neutral tone.

"Of course it is," replied Spyro with absolute conviction.

_Be mindful Spyro. Because in the world, there are those that will seek to manipulate your blood ties to commit dark deeds._

"I would do anything to help my family and friends, without exception. Worst of all would be to do nothing."

There was a pause.

_Let us move on then. In your mind, what do you believe makes a purple dragon special?_

"Well, they have the ability to control over every element, and other abilities besides the elements," replied Spyro.

_Control of all the elements, is that really so important?_

"Maybe. To me, being a purple dragon can be both a very cool thing, and at other times kind of a burden."

_Yes, I know the feeling of being different from others…_

Spyro found himself nodding in agreement.

"But most of all, a purple dragon is supposed to help others, and stop injustice."

_I see.... _replied the voice, in what to Spyro sounded like a satisfied tone.

_One last question Spryo. _

_What do you fear most?_

There were a lot of things that came to mind. The Dark Master taking over the world. Ignitus and the others being killed by some massive horde of enemies. The list went on and on. He stared back down toward the floor, studying the picture of Cynder, imagining her succumbing to the darkness and Spyro being forced to fight her.

"That, something would happen to those I care about, and I wouldn't be able to do anything to help them," responded Spyro. To not answer at all simply would have been worse, and worst of all was to lie and say there wasn't anything he was afraid about, which would have been a fear onto itself.

_Is that so?_

Again, the voice gave no hint of approval or disapproval at the answers. Instead, the voice answered with a cryptic passage.

_You value your friends and family, and you believe that the role of a purple dragon is to use their special abilities to help those in need. Yet what you fear most is that you wouldn't be able to help those in need. Indeed, you will face times where you will have to face your fears, and make decisions in which either outcome may prove to be bad. But, keep a steady pace, take things one day at a time and you'll come through fine._

Spyro was puzzled with the whole riddle. Keep a steady pace? For what? In life? For some upcoming adventure? For when the Dark Master returns to full power?

_The day when you will make that choice is both very near and very far._

Take that back. Spyro was not only somewhat confused. He was absolutely and totally confused.

Then, as if to answer his questions, two archways appeared, one to the left and one to the right. Each led down its own distinct path.

_Now I am going to give you a choice Spyro, after all, it is not fair that I simply tell you what you need to do all the time. You will have to make the decision for yourself._

"Where do the paths lead?" asked Spyro automatically. He scanned the two paths. The path on the right was a typical series of platforms, which after a few intervals led to an easily visible platform. The one on the left was a staircase that spiraled upward, to which its end was not clearly visible. Spyro didn't need to be the Chronicler to understand that the path to the right was the easier, more direct path, with simple solutions and simple answers. Yet the one on the left was one the more dangerous path, the path that would lead to more questions.

Spyro chose the path to the left. Not because the left path was inherently good, but rather of his innate curiosity, or perhaps of another desire, a desire for answers perhaps.

No sooner had he stepped through the glowing archway did a barrier seal it off completely. There was no turning back.

Spyro began to climb the spiraling stairway. Then, all of a sudden, dark spots emerged out of the ground, and he found himself beset by more of those shadowy enemies from the previous room.

"You want to fight huh?" shouted Spyro, steam billowing out from his nostrils.

"You're going down!!"

With horn, fang, fire and claw, he tore them apart, yet whenever he destroyed one, there were more to replace them. Slowly but surely, Spyro slogged his way up the path, beset by enemies all the while.

"How many of these things are there!!" Spyro shouted. If there was indeed no end to the darkness, perhaps the only thing he could do is simply avoid them until he find the exit. He rushed up the stairs, destroying them if they got in the way, but avoiding them when he could. Finally, after what seemed like to be forever, Spyro reached the end of the staircase. When he got to the top, he found himself at the edge of a cliff leading down to an empty void.

Spyro nearly cried out in dismay. All this climbing and all he found was a dead end?

Yet he couldn't go back, the shadowy enemies had cut him off. So there was only one thing Spyro could do. Sure he would probably regret it. And of course he was wishing that he had taken the right path but the moment he caught a tiny speck of light way in the distance, amidst the sea of darkness, he bent down and leapt as high as he could.

He spread his wings and soared, soared toward the endless blackness, toward that tiny speck of light. The speck became larger and larger, until he could clearly make out a large platform, much like the others he had traversed previously. He flew and flew, until finally he made his descent and landed cleanly on top the platform.

A light appeared underneath the platform, as it had for the others. Like the others, it revealed a glowing image of a female dragon. Yet there was one things about that dragoness that made his breath catch in his throat.

"This...this dragoness is purple!!" he stammered.

_Yes young one, you are only the most recent, while Malefor is simply the first. _Though the dragoness was much older than Spyro, he found her absolutely beautiful. She appeared to be protecting an object in her arms, maybe a valuable keepsake, or perhaps an egg, with her back turned, wings unfurled and gazing defiantly at a large, ominous shadow that had the likeness of a dragon.

_The path of the purple dragon is never an easy one, _the female voice interrupted_._ _For every purple dragon born since has had to bear the sins of the first. And when put in that sense, it can indeed be said that choice for the purple dragon is but an illusion. _

Was the voice referring to Spyro? To all purple dragons? Or referring to herself when she said this? Because it seemed she knew quite alot about what it meant to be a purple dragon. Spyro stared at the picture of the purple dragoness again. Did the voice that had been guiding him through this dream, belong to that particular dragoness depicted on the platform? He didn't know where the notion had come from, yet the longer he stared at it and the longer Spyro thought about what she had told him up till now, he found himself more and more convinced that indeed the voice belonged to the purple dragoness on the image.

The image itself also seemed vaguely familiar for some reason. Had he seen this dragoness before? He shook his head. How could he have? Ignitus, Volteer, Terrador, Cyril, Cynder and Flame had been the only dragons he had ever known. Maybe there was just some type of inherent link that all purple dragons throughout the ages shared.

Yet the longer Spyro stared at the portrait of that purple dragoness, the more he was convinced that somehow, somewhere in the deepest part of his memory, he had...heard? Felt? Sensed? This dragoness in particular speak with the voice that had been guiding him thus far. That they shared a link deeper than just the fact they were both the same type of dragon.

But when had it been? The earliest thing he remembered was that time where Flash and Nina tried to feed him butterflies and he had spat them out in disgust.

Yet before that...what came before that? Well... nothing in fact, after all he was in the shell before then. Actually there had been this sound though. It was a very melodious humming sound if Spyro remembered correctly, that was both soft and soothing to the ear. So soft and soothing, in fact, that it seemed to hold Spyro under some sort of spell. Then, the sound had abruptly stopped, replaced by chaos, shouting and cries of anguish. Tears streamed down Spyro's eyes, as he sensed that something terrible had happened to this purple dragoness, as it had for so many of his kind. There was some unbidden part of him that wished that the purple dragoness would come to life, to nuzzle him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

He scrambled to piece all these scattered bits together in his mind, No matter how hard Spyro tried however, there was a final piece to the mental jigsaw he knew was missing that would have connected all these scattered thoughts and memories together to identify who this purple dragoness was. His inability to do so was not only frustrating, it was tormenting. And the longer Spyro grappled with these scattered, scrambled, sub-conscious memories, the more tormenting it became.

"W-who are you!!" he shouted into the air...

There was a long silence. A certain sense of sadness filled the air.

_The closer one gets to finding the light of truth, the greater your shadow becomes. For the truth may prove to be the source of your greatest joy and your greatest anguish all at once. And once the truth is known, you may find, that the greatest enemy that you can possibly face is not the Dark Master, but yourself._

Spyro looked down and realized with a jolt that it was in fact his own shadow, darker and larger than he had ever seen before, that was looming over the purple dragoness and threatening to engulf her into the darkness. The shadow turned to face Spyro, adjusting itself as if it were lying down on the floor, and faced him with eyes that seemed like pits.

Wait a second… Spyro hadn't moved.

Then, suddenly, the shadow began to pull itself out of the floor. Spyro could only gape in horror as the shadow grew and changed shape. An extra set of wings emerged out of its back. Its horns began to lengthen and split up until they resembled so many eels. A large, heart-shaped hole appeared in the middle of its chest, right where its heart would have been. When it finally reached its full size, the shadow dragon rose up on its hind legs and let out a hideous, undulated sound.

His first instinct was to turn tail and flee from his gigantic foe, but he stopped himself.

"No… that's not the way," Spyro told himself, biting back his fear, "If I flee it'll just follow me."

Perhaps it was out of a sense of bravado, or out of some sheer stupidity, but for whatever reason, Spyro grit his teeth and charged toward the shadow. Its gigantic frame grew as he came closer, making it all the more frightening. At first, the shadow dragon seemed amused and stunned that a little insignificant thing like Spyro was charging it. It reared its head back, as a giant ball of shadow gathered at its maw.

Right before the shadow dragon threw its head and fried Spyro with a giant beam of black energy, he activated dragon time. His world flashed into a shade of purple as the world around him went into slow motion, allowing Spyro to swerve to his right without halting his charge, the beam narrowly missing nonetheless.

"Ha ha!! Too slow!!" bragged Spyro.

Returning to real time, Spyro maneuvered to the shadow dragons side and then pummel the shadow dragon with a series of attacks. Seeing that the shadow dragon continued to preoccupy itself with scorching the ground with its shadow breath, Spyro continued to hit it again and again. He slashed again and again, intent on doing as much damage as possible.

Suddenly, Spyro felt a sharp pain against his side. He spun around and saw a whole horde of those small shadow creatures from before. Not wanting to waste more time than was absolutely necessary, he reared back and gave them a good shot of flame, incinerating the enemies, before returning to his task.

From experience, Spyro knew that they key to defeating any adversary, regardless of size or shape, was to develop a pattern that would allow for the maximum amount of damage at minimum risk. It had worked against Dark Cynder and Gaul and so it worked against the shadow dragon. The shadow dragon would spew out its dark energy, Spyro would dodge, then attack it, take out the minions with his elements, whether it be earth, fire, ice or thunder, then repeat.

Unfortunately, the shadow dragon wasn't dying. Hitting it on the arm and flank, while safer, was not going to bring down the shadow. He had to go for the face. He knew of the million different ways of how such a move could backfire, but there was no other choice.

Spyro waited for his moment. As the shadow dragon was about to blow a beam of black energy, he went into dragon time and jumped over in anticipation of the beam that would surely come up short. He spread his wings and dove straight toward the shadow dragon's face.

Yet the next moment, Spyro felt a sharp pain, which sent him sprawling back down to the ground, letting out a cry of pain. The bitter taste of blood filled his mouth, and he spat out a glob. Wait, wasn't this just a dream? Wasn't he not really supposed to bleed?

What was obvious was that in his haste to go after the shadow dragon's face, he had forgotten that its eel-like horns were essentially extra arms that were powerful enough and flexible enough to intercept any attack from the front.

Seeing that Spyro was taking a long time to get up, the shadowy minions instantly converged upon Spyro and began scratching at him. Then, the shadow dragon reached down and grabbed Spyro's entire body with one of its enormous claws.

It held Spyro right in front of its face, and though it said nothing, it clearly seemed to mock his puny efforts. Spyro shivered as its foul, cold breath wafted over his face, sending chills down his entire body. His heart was beginning to race, feeling that it was about to burst from his chest. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

_Don't give up Spyro!! Believe in yourself!! _

Briefly, the image of that purple dragoness appeared in his mind, and somehow it brought Spyro peace, and with that peace came new strength.

His eyes snapped open. He concentrated all his energies, thinking about all those he held dear, vowing that he would not be defeated here, before releasing it in a gigantic outburst. The shadow enemies that accompanied it instantly disintegrated into nothingness. The shadow dragon instantly released him from its grasp, as the energy made the gigantic creature list backwards.

Yet somehow, the shadow dragon still had not been defeated. In fact, after recovering, he seemed as strong as ever.

A sense of dismay fell over Spyro. Even with all his efforts, the darkness had still not gone to rest, while he was all but spent.

He made no effort to resist when a dark tendril appeared underneath him and began to suck him in.

_Don't be afraid little one, _echoed the purple dragoness.

_Though you may travel through the deepest and darkest valleys of shadow, and things appear all but hopeless, the darkness can never extinguish the light within your heart. And where there is light there is hope._

As she said this, Spyro began to slowly sink into the dark patch as the tendrils of shadow engulfed him. Spyro turned around, checking to see if the shadow dragon was still there, which it was, and looking more imposing than ever before. It was leaning downwards, as if preparing to crush Spyro. Was he going to die in this awful place, within his own dreams? No. He couldn't believe it.

Soon, the shadowy tendrils began to wrap around his face, and soon Spyro was blind.

Yet before Spyro lapsed into unconsciousness, he heard the purple dragoness speak once more.

_You will be the one to open the door._

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_Authors note: And so, it begins. I'm not going to promise that this will be the greatest Spyro fanfic ever written, and it will start slowly before speeding up. Be patient with me, once things start rolling along it will be worth it. As for the identity of the purple dragoness, it shouldn't take much of a genius to realize what is the relationship of that dragoness to Spyro, but for a variety of reasons it will take several chapters for Spyro to realize this. _

_Anyhow, please review and comment. _


	2. Chapter 2, Life's normal I guess

_Sorry if its been I while since I've updated. To tell you the truth, I'm very slow at updating, especially in parts where there is a whole lot of plot development in less action. Please be patient with me though. I do aim to complete this story, even if this rate it would take until I'm 30 or so (by which age you'll ask what a 30 year old is doing writing a fanfiction about Spyro in the first place)_

**Chapter 2**

**Life's normal I guess....**

Spyro woke up in a cold sweat.

His bloodshot eyes frantically gazed about for the shadow dragon's presence. Only when the shadow dragon was nowhere to be found, did Spyro realize he was safe and sound in his sleeping chamber.

"By the ancestors… it was only a dream," sighed Spyro, laying back wings first onto his cot.

"It was only a dream…" he reminded himself again and again, as he struggled to catch his breath. It had a while since he had a dream quite this vivid, and that had been when the Chronicler had contacted him to regain the power of the elements. He could still clearly remember that huge shadow, about how the Dark Master was trying to take over other worlds, the voice of that purple dragoness…

Before he could further reflect, his view of the rocky ceiling was blocked by a large, buzzing insect.

"Next time, warn me before you wake up screaming like that…" said Sparx the Dragonfly, floating in front of his face.

"Sorry Sparx, its not my fault that you decided to sleep on top of me" replied Spyro half-heartedly.

Sparx put his hands at his side in indignation, "Oh yeah? How would you like it if you were my size, always being tossed around like a rag doll?"

"I've got to admit, that must suck big time. That's why every night before I go to bed I thank The Ancestors that I wasn't born a dragonfly," retorted Spyro, still feeling quite irritable and drowsy.

"Yeah?" sputtered Sparx, "Well… Don't think get the idea that you're so cool just because you're a big fatso!!"

Spyro, pleased that he had won the exchange, let out an amused grunt.

Afterwards, he let out a yawn, stretched his wings, and blinked a couple of times before rising back to his feet. _Just the start of another new day_, thought Spyro.

As he did at the start of every morning, he made his way out of his sleeping chambers toward the Dragon Temple's main room.

Nowadays, the Dragon Temple was completely spotless, where as a few years before its pristine granite walls had seething with mushrooms, moss and overrun by the apes. In any case, Spyro made a brief prayer to the Ancestors and the Great Dragons above. His prayer was a rather typical one; that his friends and family would be kept safe, that peace would reign in the Dragon Realms and that he would have the strength to fulfill his duty as the purple dragon.

"So, you said you had a dream?" inquired Sparx.

"Yeah,"

"So what was it about?"

"Well, there was this voice that contacted me," said Spyro.

"Where have I heard that one before?" said Sparx, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious Sparx!!"

"Well if you are serious, then that's never a good sign," replied Sparx, "Was it the Chronicler, saying something like, 'The world is going to end' or some doomsday prophesy like that?"

"No, it wasn't the Chronicler, it was another voice, a female's voice," said Spyro.

"Reeallly…."

"She was actually pretty vague. She told me something about the door to the worlds opening, and that the Dark Master is trying to take over all these worlds. Then…there was this big shadow creature that I had to fight," said Spyro. He declined to give Sparx anything more specific, knowing how well the dragonfly could get the wrong impression.

Turns out that Sparx had more than enough material to pester Spyro with, "You said you fought a big huge scary monster eh? Was it Cynder?"

"No it wasn't Cynder," finished Spyro testily.

Sparx wouldn't shut up though, "I bet it was Cynder!! Or else you wouldn't have been tossing and squirming so much. So, tell me all the juicy details…"

"I think you just have a very disturbed mind Sparx," said Spyro in disgust, not that it came as a surprise.

"Actually, never mind about my dream for now. I'll probably talk to Ignitus about it later," said Spyro.

"Come on Spyro, you don't have to be ashamed admit it. I've seen the way you've been staring at mistress of despair…"

"Who are calling mistress of despair?" a voice interrupted.

Both Spyro and Sparx turned around.

"Ahhh!! Please don't eat me!!" wailed Sparx, hiding behind Spyro. Cynder rolled her eyes.

"Um…morning Cynder, sleep well last night?" asked Sypro nervously, hoping that she had not listened in on that last exchange and gotten the wrong idea.

If she had gotten the wrong idea, there was no way to prove it, and Spyro was more than relieved when she responded, "More or less well… And you Spyro?"

Sparx buzzed in front of the two dragons, but Spyro deftly snatched Sparx out of midair and pinched his lips shut before he could spew out more nonsense.

"Well…" said Spyro, "I slept all right..."

"Right Sparx?"

Sparx nodded in agreement, albeit the fact that Spyro had to use his finger to do so.

Both remained silent for the moment, thinking about what to say. Spyro stared randomly at the walls of the temple, making a point to avoid eye contact with her for the moment. Their conversations had grown more awkward lately, definitely more so than they had been right after Gaul's defeat. That wasn't to say that their friendship had diminished, in fact the contrary was true. Though both would admit that they were just friends.

Yet for the past year now, Spyro's friendship with Cynder had taken a rather awkward turn. It was difficult for either of them to explain why this was the case explicitly, but part of that reason had to do with the fact that over the past year, they had both grown quite rapidly.

And maybe, it was also because during that time Spyro began to contemplate the possibility of Cynder being more than just a very good friend. The mere thought of that was frightening, but also intriguing at the same time.

The corner of his eye flashed back to Cynder, privately admiring the way the morning sun shined off her pearly black scales, her curved, sleek figure and her smooth scent. The way that she was… giving Spyro this gaze as if he had jumped into a pile of mud…

Frantic to do something to right himself, and restore a sense of normality, Spyro said, "Cynder…you happen to have any plans for this morning?"

Wait a second? That wasn't normal!! _Way to think before opening my big mouth. _

"Plans?" said Cynder, sounding quite intrigued as she curved her neck to face Spyro, "What kind of plans?"

"Ooooh, Spyro's going to ask doom and gloom on a date" blurted Sparx, holding his hands to his chest.

"Well, it's not quite that, I was…" said Spyro, trying not to stammer in panic, "Since our training with the Guardians isn't starting until later in the afternoon, I was wondering…"

"Hmmmm?" replied Cynder, tilting her head sideways with interest (hopefully).

"You wanna go hunting with me?" he finished, his jaw suddenly flashing into a nervous grin. The outburst had made Cynder flinch backward a little bit, and Spyro feared he had messed things up between them for the entire day.

Cynder smiled. "I'd really like to go Spyro, but didn't you say that you'd be having a fight with Flame?"

Spyro grit his teeth in embarrassment. "Oh yeah…I forgot about that…"

Cynder rolled her eyes.

Spyro was the last person that would ever back out of a promise, even though Spyro and Flame had a friendly fight basically every week anyhow. Then again, couldn't Flame for once have had better timing?

"Er…one second?" replied Spyro.

"Hurry up then, I'll be waiting for you," called Cynder.

He rushed over to the training room. Not to his surprise, Flame was already up early practice his attacks and techniques.

"You're late Spyro!!" the mercurial young Fire Dragon said, turning to face Spyro and pointing at him with one of his claws. His red eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Are you ready to lose today?" he boasted.

Spyro couldn't help but smirk. Considering that Flame had lost every single fight he had against Spyro, it was actually quite impressive rather than arrogant that he would remain so confident of victory. Spyro doubted whether he would have such unflappable confidence after losing so many times.

"Sorry Flame… but I think I'm going to pass this morning."

"Oh?" said Flame, tilting his head, sounding somewhat offended, "Are you chickening out?"

Spyro honestly felt let down that he'd have to cancel the fight. The young fire dragon had mysteriously appeared at the Dragon Temple a few months after Spyro and Cynder escaped from the Well of Souls. It wasn't long before Flame became every bit as much of a friend that Cynder was (well, maybe not _quite_) and it was perhaps inevitable that two male dragons the same age would quickly form a friendly rivalry. They constantly tested each other in various competitions and races, not to mention fighting prowess.

"Umm…yeah. That's right!!" replied Spyro, eager to find any sort of excuse that would remove him from such an awkward situation.

Flame looked skeptical. "What's with you today?"

"Er…how should I put this?" said Spyro.

While Spyro was debating what to tell Flame, Sparx buzzed over and whispered something in Flame's ear.

"That's interesting… Oh reeaally?" said Flame, his jaw flexing into a huge grin, before letting out an amused growl. Spyro felt his guts twist inward, fearing that Sparx had revealed something quite embarrassing.

Flame turned back to face Spyro, "I was wondering when you were going to ask Cynder out on a date Spyro."

"No!! It's not like that Flame!!" insisted Spyro, though he knew that Flame hit it closer to the spot.

"Alright, call it whatever you want Spyro. You don't have to get defensive. Anyhow, once the old geezers wake up I'll tell them that you and Cynder just out to hunt for a bit. Sound good?"

"Works for me," replied Spyro.

He turned around to leave, but he suddenly remembered something.

"Wait a second Flame," said Spyro, suddenly remembering the dream he had, "Can I ask you something very quickly?"

"Sure," he replied off-handedly.

"Do you remember anything about the place where you lived before you got here?" asked Spyro.

Flame shrugged, "I've told you before Spyro, I don't remember anything."

"Nothing at all?"

He shook his head.

"Nope, nothing at all."

"I'll tell you this Spyro, I would like to find out where I came from someday and if I ever had a chance to go there, I'd go."

"Why bring this up now though?"

"Because I felt like asking, that's all," replied Spyro.

"Right…"

"So anyhow, what by the powers below are you still hanging around here Spyro? Do you plan to keep her waiting?" replied Flame.

"Not me…" replied Spyro, and rushed his way back down the hallway.

"Remember, you still owe me a fight Spyro!!" reminded Flame, shouting down the hallway.

"Don't worry, I'm good for that," replied Spyro, looking back momentarily. A few moments later, he returned to where Cynder was pacing about expectantly for him. She smiled when Spyro returned.

"So what did Flame say?" asked Cynder.

"He was cool with that," replied Spyro. Briefly, he wondered why that would concern him rather than getting permission from the elders.

"So you ready to go?" said Spyro.

"Ready when you are."

"So, where do you want to hunt?" asked Spyro.

"You're the one who asked me to come with you Spyro, shouldn't you be the one to decide that?" said Cynder coyly.

"All right."

Sparx was quick to ruin the moment.

"Uh oh, the lovebirds are already at it. I can see it already. Spyro and Cynder sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…" sang Sparx.

Cynder lashed her head at Sparx and hissed, "If you plan to keep on living Sparx, you won't finish the last part."

"Just saying…" shrugged Sparx, backing away from her menacing gaze. "Well, I'll just stay out of your way…heh, if you know what I mean…"

Both Spyro and Cynder gave the dragonfly very dirty looks.

"Maybe we should take Sparx along…" suggested Cynder.

"I didn't know you appreciated me so much," said Sparx sarcastically.

"Are you serious?" said Spyro, unable to see why she could possibly want Sparx to be a third wheel.

Cynder curved her neck and whispered something in Spyro's ears. "Would you rather have Sparx talking behind our backs?" she clarified.

"Now that you mention it. No." said Spyro. One never knew what could possibly come out of Sparx's mouth and the mere thought of it made him shudder.

"So yeah, you're coming with us Sparx all right?" said Spyro.

"There's a catch isn't there?" replied Sparx.

"Basically its to keep an eye on you," said Spyro.

"And if I hear you speaking vile rumors, I have a magnificent list of tortures prepared specifically for you!!" threatened Cynder.

Sparx went comically pale. Spyro could only imagine what she could have in mind, and though he wasn't one who didn't enjoy cruelty, if Sparx really acted up Spyro wouldn't necessarily mind seeing him trapped inside a cage with hungry pigeons.

He checked his surroundings. Usually, he hunted at the plains just north of the Temple. There was always plenty of game, especially nowadays when there were fewer bad guys around. Then again, if they went there as always, it would make it no different from anywhere else. There were other places that were further away, but if they were gone too long Ignitus and the Guardians would get worried.

Then it hit him. Once he thought about it he wondered why he had not even thought of it before.

"We can go hunting down the river a bit, near the swamp." said Spyro.

"Isn't that near where you came from Spyro?" replied Cynder.

"Yeah, it's actually not that far away now that I think about it," replied Spyro. He had been able to crawl from there to the temple when he first set out on his journey in a few short hours, and it would no doubt be much faster by air. The temple itself was situated at the very edge of that swamp, so going a little bit deeper was but a short flight.

"So what do you think of the idea?" asked Spyro.

Cynder smiled. It was wonderful the way she smiled like that. "Sure! Why not?"

With that, the two dragons, plus Sparx, took off. Of course, this was far from the first time Spyro and Cynder had gone hunting together, but that was before things had become…well…Spyro didn't know how to explain it but in any case they had been hunting separately since things changed. A large part of Spyro that he hadn't known before was elated, and at the same time anxious, that Cynder was coming with him.

As Spyro followed the river downstream, the air quickly grew moist and stuffy, so that sweat began to break out from between the creases in his scales. It was not unbearably hot though, and quickly acclimated to the climate.

Before long, Spyro spotted a suitable clearing on the riverbank, and made his descent. He touched down on the swampy soil, followed by Cynder.

"Halleluiah!! Home sweet home!!" yelled Sparx.

He hovered down and kissed the swampy soil.

"Yeah," muttered Spyro, gazing at the plants and trees, "It's been a while since I've been here. Maybe it's just me, but things seem smaller than they used to be."

That made Cynder giggle, "That's because you've probably grown a bit since you've been here. You didn't expect to be a fledgling forever now did you?"

For some reason, that made Spyro blush. True, he had grown quite a lot the past three years, more than he had grown his entire life up until then, and while that had seemed substantial, Spyro then tried to imagine himself grown up, about the size of Ignitus. He couldn't form the picture.

Cynder walked up to him, poking Spyro's leg with her tail.

"Spyro!! Are you just going to stand there or are you going to show me what's good to eat around here!!" she said impatiently.

"Oh!!" said Spyro, snapping out of his stupor, "Sorry!!"

Though it had been quite a while since Spyro had been to the swamp, he still knew where all the good hunting spots were. It never took long for either Spyro or Cynder to find a good meal in any case, as Spyro quickly zapped a few birds out of the sky, while Cynder 'feared' a bird of prey right into her mouth.

"Geesh… what did those poor animals do to you anyhow?" protested Sparx, after witnessing the rather brutal affair that hunting usually was.

"There they were, minding their own business when suddenly, SNAP!!" he cried. "Can't you hear the poor things crying in terrible pain and agony, as sharp teeth rip through their soft bodies before being swallowed, never to see the light of day again!!"

(It didn't occur to Sparx that right as he was saying this, he stopped to shove a butterfly in his mouth.)

Spyro looked down at his food and shrugged. "Too bad for them I guess," he said off handedly.

Cynder scoffed at the notion, "It is the law of nature for prey to be sustentation for the predators, always has been and always will be."

"Or you could try eating some plants for a change," added Sparx.

Both Spyro and Cynder glared at Sparx as if he had spoken in some ancient language not spoken for millennia.

"Eating plants? You can't be serious Sparx," said Cynder.

"Why not? They're good for you! Besides, you never hear a cow complain about eating plants do you? Neither of you have ever tried before so how do you know?"

"Maybe not, but dragons just don't eat plants," replied Spyro. The notion of eating plants had never even occurred to him before. Indeed, they could have been lost in a lush tropical jungle filled with fruit trees and starved to death had there been no meat.

Sparx shrugged, "It was just an idea."

Spyro thought no more of it, and resumed his meal.

"Hey Spyro!!" said Sparx.

"Look over there!!" he cried, pointing to the other side of the stream.

Spyro switched his gaze in that direction, and noticed two small shapes emerge from behind a tree to get a drink. They were dragonflies in fact, ones that he recognized.

"Could that be mom and dad?" said Spyro.

"Your parents?" said Cynder, somewhat confused.

"Actually they're Sparx's parents, but they raised me like I was their son."

"To tell you the truth once I left them and arrived at the Dragon Temple, I never really thought too much about them anymore, and I never thought to go visit them."

"Why don't you say hi then?" said Cynder.

"Mom!! Dad!! Over here!!" shouted Sparx.

"Spyro is that you?" said Flash, leaning back to take a full view of him.

"Well of course its Spyro pops," said Sparx, "He's just even fatter than he used to…

Before he could finish his sentence, Sparx's mom rushed forward and threw her arms around her son.

"Sparx!! My baby!! I missed you so much!!" she wailed.

"Yeah…I missed you too mom," gasped Sparx. After nearly choking Sparx to death, Nina flew over to Spyro and would have done the same if he weren't hundreds of times her size, so she contented herself by leaning her cheek against Spyro.

"It's been so long since we've seen our two boys," said Nina, almost crying from joy.

"Yeah…its really been a while since we've seen you last," admitted Spyro.

It was only then that the couple noticed Cynder observing the reunion.

"Oh? And who might you be?" said Nina, sounding very intrigued, "Are you one of Spyro's kind?"

"Be careful mom!!" shouted Sparx, "She's a super evil mistress of doom that tried to-

"Sparx!!" retorted Spyro, with more violence than he intended.

Flash floated up to meet Spyro's gaze. "Care to introduce us then to your friend Spyro?"

Spyro's scales went a shade of magenta.

He took a deep breath, "Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet my friend Cynder. Cynder, as you can tell, that's my mom and dad," he said.

"Pleased to meet you both, Spyro's said so many good things about you," she said brightly.

"Don't let her act fool you though," uttered Sparx, "She may act nice, but lest I forget, doomgirl's monkeys put me in that horrible cage and then tried to kill us," replied Sparx.

Cynder's eyes narrowed. Spyro could only shake his head and sigh. "Sorry about Sparx Cynder, I hoped he'd be a bit more…well…you know, polite?"

Cynder shrugged, she really didn't seem to have expected any different from Sparx.

"Now there son…" corrected Flash, "That's no way to speak with a female. Would you appreciate it that if you were to have a female companion, that Spyro would speak of her as such?"

"I don't know dad, it's hard for me to imagine Sparx getting a female friend," replied Spyro.

That made Flash burst out in laughter and Cynder giggle.

"Hey!! Not cool guys!!"

"Well, Sparx," said Nina, "If you do plan on looking for a girlfriend, first thing you should do is…"

"Oooh Mom!!" said Sparx, throwing up his arms in dismay.

Spyro spent the next hour or so talking about his travels with Sparx, along with the people he met, like the Guardians, Flame, Molier, and others. Neither Spyro, nor Sparx, nor Cynder brought up their struggle against the Dark Master. All that would have done was worry them more than they already did. More importantly, Spyro's parents approved of Cynder, and in a short while she quickly fit into the family.

For some reason, it also made Spyro think about that dream he had the previous night.

"Mom…dad, you don't happen to know who my real parents are?" said Spyro.

They shook their heads. Spyro could only sigh, though it had been expected.

"No, we don't know who your real parents are Spyro," said Flash with a bit of regret, "All that we did know the day we found you was that you definitely were not a dragonfly."

"Yet wherever they are Spyro, I'm sure they love you," said Nina, "And even if they didn't, you will still be our son no matter what, and we both will always love you."

"I love you too mom and dad," replied Spyro.

Flash and Nina wrapped their arms around Spyro's face. The young dragon relished every second of their affection. Even if he went his whole life without ever discovering who his birth parents were, he could take solace in the fact that he already had parents who loved him and cared about him. All he had to do was think about the fate that had befallen Cynder to realize just how fortunate Spyro had been.

"Well…I think we better get going," said Spyro, with a tinge of sadness.

"You take care son," replied Flash, giving Spyro one last pat on the horns.

"Oh and Sparx!!" said Nina, "Make sure Spyro remembers to wash his mouth every day!!"

"Umm…right mom!! Yeah…see ya…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though the Dark Master or his minions had been mostly quiet ever since Gaul had been defeated, Ignitus and the Guardians had not eased up on training young Spyro in the case the horrible day should come.

Today, Spyro would be training with Ignitus, the Guardian of Fire. Not only was the large red dragon the most demanding of Spyro compared with all the other Guardians, Spyro was also the closest to Ignitus. In fact, Ignitus was the closest thing that Spyro had for a father, a role that Ignitus was eager to embrace. And Spyro always sought to do his best for Ignitus, not that he didn't train hard with the other Guardians, but with Ignitus, he always gave something extra for him.

"Anyhow Spyro," said Ignitus, "We will be working on improving your accuracy with your fireball, specifically against moving targets."

Ignitus raised a claw. Out of thin air, a wooden mannequin of one of those screeching wyvern-type creatures appeared. Having faced off against all sorts of bad guys and sinister characters in real life, training was mostly review for Spyro. But, as Ignitus liked to constantly remind Spyro, it never hurt to have a review, and there was always room to improve.

"At my signal, I will send up a series of targets at various distances, and you will hit as many of them as you possibly can with a fireball until I tell you to stop."

Spyro remembered how much he hated having to take them down; they would float in midair and spew out dark energy at Spyro, and all that while making that awful, ear-wrenching screech, of which Spyro would privately feel satisfied every time one was taken down.

"You ready Spyro?" asked Ignitus.

"Bring it on!!" cried Spyro, fixing his gaze on the target.

"Then let us begin…"

With that, Spyro lifted off the ground so that he was focused on the target, flapping his wings rapidly to maintain his vertical posture. As he took aim at his target, Spyro arched his neck and took a deep breath, feeling the fires gather in his chest. Then he shot his neck forward, and a sizable ball of flame shot out of his mouth.

The speed and trajectory were perfect. The fireball hit the wooden mannequin squarely in the center, burning it to smithereens.

Spyro did not have long to celebrate, as Ignitus summoned another target. This one was moving back and forth, and Spyro had to concentrate before launching another fireball, but that too landed right in the center.

Then, Ignitus brought forth two targets at once. Spyro studied its patterns, as one of them went up and down, while another went left and right. At the right moment, Spyro launched yet another fireball. Once again, his timing was perfect, as the fireball hit the targets right as they crossed paths, sending both to the ground.

Spyro was also perfect on the next fourteen sets of targets Ignitus gave him. However, he finally missed when one of the targets, which was moving in all directions with no pattern at all. He quickly corrected his aim however, and took the last target down with the next fireball he launched.

With that, Ignitus ended the exercise.

"Very good Spyro," said Ignitus approvingly, "You've made great strides in honing your aim young dragon."

Spyro felt proud of himself. More specifically, Spyro felt proud because Ignitus had been proud of his effort.

"May I make one suggestion though. When a flying foe appears to be moving at great speed, don't waste too much time trying to get the precise aim. During that time, the enemy could launch an attack, so therefore, launch a fireball even if you would likely miss. However, if you get it close, you should simply detonate the fireball while it is next to your foe, as faster foes tend to be more fragile, and therefore the explosion would deal sufficient enough damage to disable them."

Spyro responded with a sharp nod.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind Ignitus."

"I know you will Spyro, you've always made me proud."

"Wait!!" said Sparx abruptly, "Aren't you proud of me too?"

Ignitus just refrained from rolling his eyes.

"Why yes," replied Ignitus, who was simply being charitable at this point, "Of course Sparx."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That ended the training session. After Ignitus left the training room, Spyro practiced his techniques a bit longer. Cynder was busy training with Volteer at the moment, so she wasn't around to talk to for the next hour or so.

"That reminds me of something," replied Spyro. "I did promise Flame to meet him here for that fight didn't I?"

Sparx shrugged, "I suppose if Emo wants to lose again that's his choice. Guess we'd better wait for him."

Spyro's training session today had been rather short, so he was in the fighting mood at the moment. Flame was also supposed to be training with Cyril today, (despite them being opposite elements) and he would also be about done by now. However, several minutes past, and Flame didn't show up in the entrance. That was most unusual, because he knew how much the red dragon obsessed with honing his techniques.

Spyro was about to conclude that perhaps Flame didn't want a fight today after all when he noticed a small bit of debris drop from the ceiling. Without turning his head, he curved his gaze toward the ceiling, where there seemed to be a shape hanging upside down.

_Clever of him. I bet he's trying to blend in with the ceiling isn't he by putting dirt on himself. He must have snuck in while I was talking with Ignitus. Since charging me head on wasn't working, he trying to catch me by surprise. Nice try, but I didn't stop the Dark Cynder and Gaul for nothing._

"Now where could Flame be?"

"Hello!!" said Sparx, "Emo ain't here Spyro!! Unless you see something I don't."

He resisted the urge to look up. That way, Flame would think that Spyro didn't expect a thing.

"That's strange," said Spyro, folding his wings, "Here I was thinking that Flame wanted to challenge me to a fight. I guess he wasn't up for it today."

Spyro shrugged. He turned around and began heading toward the exit, all the while pretending to give the impression that he was oblivious of the sneak attack Flame obviously was trying to deliver. Right on cue, there was a sharp crack, followed by a roar.

Spyro jumped to his left, only moments before a loud impact shook the ground beside him. Spyro was nearly caught off guard when Flame immediately followed up with a swipe, but after the first close miss, he easily dodged the follow up moves.

Spyro grinned, "There you are Flame!! I knew you would show up!"

Flame dusted off his claws and let out a grunt, before resuming his fighting stance. "Yeah, and today I'm finally going to beat you Spyro!!"

"So the 45th time's the charm?" uttered Sparx, his arms folded while he rolled his eyes. Flame blew a puff of smoke at the dragonfly, who hastily flurried out of the fray.

"In fact yes, 45th time will be the charm, because while you've been bumming around with Cynder, I put in extra training," said Flame.

"So you think you'll be able to beat me this time?" replied Spyro.

"Damn straight," replied Flame. Whatever one could say about the mercurial red dragon, he never lacked for confidence or determination.

"Well think again!" said Spyro.

Wasting no time, Spyro leapt forward, aiming his horns at his rival. When he spotted Flame start to move out of the way, Spyro abruptly changed direction, and lashed out with a horizontal wing slash. In most instances, the fight would have been ended after the first blow, yet the expected impact didn't come.

_I missed?_ Thought Spyro in amazement.

A sharp pain then burst forth from Spyro's chest, knocking him backwards a small ways. Spyro shook his head and grunted as he resumed his battle stance. Opposite of him, there stood Flame with a huge grin.

"Did you actually think you could hit me with that same move as always?" said Flame.

"I guess even you can get lucky once in a while," growled Spyro, though privately he had to admit it was a really great (and lucky) move on Flame's part.

"Think you can land another?" replied Spyro, daring him on, "Come on. Try me,"

A puff of smoke exited Flame's nostrils, and the moment the Fire Dragon's red eyes narrowed, Spyro knew his attack was sure to follow. He waited until the last second to dodge, which he did by mere inches. This was by design, as a close miss would goad Flame into launching his follow up attacks, rather than disengage and attempt to come up with a new strategy. Spyro easily dodged the next three claw swipes, then ducked under a horizontal wing slice, and leaned his neck backward to dodge a vicious swing of his tail, which would have been his finishing move.

The resulting momentum from Flame's last miss had left him with his side exposed, and Spyro wasted no time in launching his counter attack. He lowered his shoulder and rammed into his opponent's flank, knocking Flame onto his back.

Spyro leapt forward, attempting to pin Flame and end the fight. Flame barely rolled away from the tackle at the last second, but Spyro leapt after him and closed the distance.

Spyro followed with his own series of attacks, connecting with each one, before Flame frantically shook himself loose and scurried out of range. They paced and glared at each other once more.

"So how was your date with Cynder this morning?" said Flame as he paced about for another attack.

Spyro clenched his teeth, while keeping an eye on Flame, "It wasn't a date Flame, we just went hunting for a while."

"Yeah right, it was a date Spyro. Did you ask her to…"

Spyro frowned, but replied calmly, "No Flame, it wasn't like that. We did bump into Sparx's parents though, and I introduced her to them…"

That last response Spyro made was designed to provoke an attack by Flame, and it did, as Flame once again lunged forward to attack. Spyro jumped backwards, dodging his blows, and delivering a few of his own, knocking the fire dragon off balance, before finishing with a flip, as Spyro's tail connected right underneath his jaw. The blow knocked Flame back several feet, leaving him dazed.

"Still think you're gonna beat me Flame?" said Spyro.

Flame blinked a few times, before he puffed a stream of smoke out of his nostrils. Despite this show of bravado, he looked visibly less confident than when the fight started, and both Spyro and Flame knew this was the case.

"Just you wait…" he said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to take you down Spyro."

Flame charged forward, but Spyro easily anticipated the move and flipped over the charge. Frustrated, Flame tried to charge again, and this time Spyro sidestepped out of the blow, while sticking out his tail in the path of his charge. Flame flew forward several feet, such had been the momentum of his charge, crashing right on his belly and leaving a visible skid mark.

"I think that's enough for now Flame," panted Spyro. The last flurry of attacks had left Flame with a series of furrows and small bruises.

"What you're giving up?" said Flame, flashing a defiant grin.

"No, I'm just saying," replied Spyro, shaking his head earnestly, "I think that's enough for one day."

"You're just scared that you're going to lose aren't you?"

"Careful Spyro!" called Sparx, "He's about to go totally emo on you!"

Though crudely put, Sparx did have a point. All too often, Flame let his emotions get the better of him. This was one of these times.

"Flame, lets finish the fight later on alright?" said Spyro, desperately trying to defuse the situation.

"No!! We'll finish this now!!" he shouted, baring his teeth, "You're going down!!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," sighed Spyro.

With a running start, Flame leapt into the air and spread his wings, roaring at the top of his breath. Spyro leapt to meet him, placing the two dragons on a collision course. Flame let out a roar as he reared his head back to deliver a devastating bite, yet at the last second, Spyro closed his wings and lowered his head, sending him into vertical spin. The bite missed by inches, and with momentum he had gathered, Spyro swung his tail straight down on Flame. The heavy tailbone connected with a heavy thunk, and a moment later, the red dragon slammed onto the ground with a sickening crunch.

"Ooooohh, that's gotta hurt," said Sparx from the sidelines, wincing at the sight of Flame's prone body.

Spyro landed on the opposite side of the room, turning around to face his defeated opponent.

"Flame? Are you all right?" asked Spyro, leaning his head forward. The only response he received was a weak groan.

Fearing that he might have seriously hurt Flame, he rushed to his friend's side. Thankfully, the impact had not caused any serious injuries, except toward his considerable pride.

"Oh man, I can't believe I lost!! Again!!" moaned Flame. He slammed his tail on the ground in frustration.

"I guess you're happy that you won," he said.

"No Flame," replied Spyro, "I'm just glad you didn't get seriously hurt. Besides, I can honestly say you really improved since last time."

"Wasn't good enough though," he pouted.

The commotion in the training room had attracted the attention of the Guardians, who had rushed into the room.

"What happened here!!" shouted Ignitus, scowling.

"It was my fault Ignitus," replied Spyro automatically. "I let things get out of hand."

"Actually, Flame tried to cheap-shot Spyro," said Sparx, "Then after he got his tail whipped as usual, he went totally emo and then got his tail whipped even worse."

"Yeah," said Flame with a brittle voice, "It's always my fault isn't it?"

"Now there," said Volteer, "It would be quite inaccurate to deduce that either one of you are at fault. What I can infer is that the boys got slightly carried away in their antics. Why, I remember back when I was their age, the time when Terrador and I got into an argument over…

"Spare us the details Volteer," growled Terrador, "This does not excuse our actions nor it does theirs."

Ignitus placed his claw down, "Regardless, the point remains that you two had a fight without letting any of us know beforehand. I will not tolerate you injuring each other for no purpose."

Spryo sighed. After all, Spyro was generally better at stuff than Flame, and not only that he had the affections of Cynder. More importantly, he had defeated Dark Cynder, Gaul and his army of monkeys. In that context, it was understandable why Flame would not only be jealous, but also give him a sense of inferiority.

Yet Spyro couldn't help but admire the fact that despite having lost to Spyro every time they had fought, Flame kept challenging him, time and time again. Spyro doubted whether he would have possessed such determination, and willingness to go at it again and again if Spyro had been the one that were constantly losing.

There was one thing, however, that could be said with certainty. Because Spyro had accepted Flame's challenge without asking permission from the Guardians, they were both in big trouble….


	3. Chapter 3, Contemplation

Chapter 3

The Dragon Temple had been constructed long before the first purple dragon, built when the Great Dragons above still roamed the planet. Since then, the Temple had been seen as a symbol of Dragonkind's strength, ingenuity and culture. After it had been sacked by Gaul and the Apes, the Temple had fallen into disrepair, as fungi had penetrated its marble tiles and plants had grown into the doorways, rendering them inoperable. After Gaul's defeat, the Dragon Temple had been resorted to its former glory.

One could imagine that this restoration of such a great structure like the Dragon Temple required a great deal of work, and, unless one was a mole, it could often be a rather unenviable task. Even the Guardians found it hard to find the motivation at times to perform the regularly scheduled maintenance, so in a way, it came as a great convenience that Spyro and Flame had gotten themselves in trouble after having their impromptu fight.

Therefore, the two dragons found themselves cleaning up the rest of the afternoon. Their moods quickly soured, Flame's especially.

"Damn those old rotters!!" he snarled, "How do they expect us to clean up the entire temple by the end of the day! Isn't that supposed to be Molier's job or something?"

"It's not called punishment for no reason now is it?" replied Spyro blandly.

Flame grunted.

In truth, the tasks that the Guardians had assigned them weren't exactly cruel. All they had to clean the dust off the floor, the walls and the roof. However, dragons were not designed to manipulate small objects with their claws, so what was rather easy for the moles became a frustrating ordeal for the two. One could imagine it could be a rather amusing sight to see two dragons, attempting to balance on their hind legs, while trying to operate a broom with their claws.

"Its times like these where I wished I had hands instead of claws," said Spyro.

"I have hands and fingers!!" said Sparx, wiggling them in front of Spyro and Flame's face as he buzzed about. "So that proves that dragonflies rule and dragons drool!!"

"Keep telling yourself that Sparx," replied Spyro.

Yet Spyro should have known that instead of shutting Sparx up, the move backfired, "I sure will!! Dragonflies rule and dragons drool!!" Sparx repeated.

"Dragonflies rule and dragons drool!!"

Spyro buried his wings into his face. Flame, gnashing his teeth, whispered to Spyro, "Can I burn that insect into a crisp?"

Spyro was starting to seriously consider doing so. However, while Sparx was busy bragging and cackling, Cynder, looking extremely upset, entered the room holding a jar in her mouth. Before Sparx could react, she placed the jar in her claw, threw it over Sparx, and then twisted the lid on top.

"Huh… What the?" said Sparx. He tapped the glass, and then his expression turned into alarm.

"Oh God!! Get me out of here!!"

"By the Ancestors Cynder, you can be really evil at times," said Spyro, fully meaning it as a compliment.

Cynder responded with that sweet yet sinister grin of hers, focusing her gaze upon a petrified Sparx. "Did you think I was joking when I said that I had a magnificent list of tortures prepared if you didn't keep your mouth closed?"

"Spyro!! Buddy!!" wailed Sparx, "Help!! YEAAGGGHHH!!!"

That didn't help matters for Sparx, especially considering the fact he had chosen to piss her off during the time of month she was especially moody.

Therefore, Spyro was content to watch as Cynder shook the jar several times, listening to Sparx's rather exaggerated screams of terror, before unscrewing the top.

"I think I'm gonna puke…"

Sparx stumbled in the air for a while, before collapsing to the ground.

"Feeling better now Cynder?" said Spyro helpfully.

"Oh…right," stammered Sparx, "You ask her if she's okay rather than your own brother…"

She let out a breath, apparently looking very mellow now. "Sorry about that, just had to get that out of my system," she said.

"I hope you didn't mess up Sparx too badly," said Spyro.

"Never fear…I'm not dead yet!!" he muttered incoherently.

"Yet if I hear you acting up again, you'll wish for its cold embrace," retorted Cynder. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Sparx had no clever response to her ultimatum. All he could do was stammer in fear.

"By the Ancestors, what a total dominatrix" whispered Flame.

"What was that?" said Cynder, tilting her head sideways.

"Errr…nothing…" replied Flame.

"Now, if I remember correctly, you two should be working on cleaning the floor right now am I right?" she said.

"Yes mistress," said Spyro and Flame, mock-bowing before Cynder as if they were her servants, or rather, her expendable minions.

Spyro expected that Cynder would not like the tone of voice, yet for some reason she seemed oddly satisfied, and contented herself in watching the two in their ordeal. Perhaps it felt gratifying for her, as a female, to watch males mess up, or maybe it was a leftover fascination from the Dark Cynder days, where Spyro could imagine that she would've enjoyed watching her slaves toil in agony. One simply could never understand the strange fascinations of females.

She giggled when Spyro, right as he gathered up all the dirt in that particular room into a big pile, lost his balance and fell face first on all the dirt and scattered it all across the room again.

"Hey, its harder than it looks alright?" said Spyro perhaps a bit too harshly.

"Oh come on, you're not putting enough effort into it!!" said Cynder.

"Seriously, why don't you help us out instead of just sitting there?" said Flame.

Cynder snapped her neck toward the offender, and Spyro braced for the outburst that was sure to come. However, to Spyro's surprise, she said, "All right, if you are having that much trouble I suppose I could help."

Spryo shook his head, _Girls are so weird..._

At first, it was total drudgery, however, the three dragons came up with a particularly creative solution. Using the wind element, Cynder would sweep the floor with her tail, lifting all the dirt into the air, and then Spyro would quickly freeze all the gathered dust in midair. Then, before the ice particles hit the ground, Flame let out a sheet of fire and instantly dissipated it into gas.

Not surprisingly, they quickly made a chore into a game, working together to see how quickly they could clean a room. The three got so immersed with their game, that it almost seemed a pity when they finally finished cleaning the rooms.

Once they had finished, they had plenty of time to reminisce before the sun went down.

Spyro, Cynder and Flame sat at the ledge of the Dragon Temple watching the sunset, as they usually did after the end of a long day. They merely sat and gazed at the horizon as the clouds and the valley below turned orange and red as the sun dipped below the plains, each of them lost in their thoughts.

Flame was the first to speak.

"You know, I really haven't talked a lot about it with you guys until now, but I've been thinking about the day I was found at the temple," said Flame, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the horizon. Spyro fixed his glance toward Flame; it hadn't been the first time he had brought this up.

"And what about it?" asked Spyro, switching his gaze toward Flame.

"Don't you think it's strange that I don't remember a single thing about where I lived, who I knew, or anything else about what happened prior to that day?"

"Yeah, that is pretty weird, are you sure you don't remember anything?" replied Spyro.

Flame shook his head.

"Perhaps its just as well you don't remember," said Cynder. "What if you were to discover that you did horrible things in the past?"

"That's not what bothers me," replied Flame, "Yeah, it would be bad to find out I did terrible things, but at least I'd know something. Here's what bothering me. I've asked the Guardians if they could find any records about me in the Dragon Temple's archives, and they found nothing. Somehow, I get this feeling that I never even existed before the day you all found me. And that makes me wonder something else, do I even exist at all?"

"What?" replied Spyro, "How could you say that you don't even exist? You're talking to us right now aren't you?"

That probably wasn't what Flame had meant, but he was probably worrying over nothing.

"Look, it doesn't matter if you don't remember anything about where you came from. You're our friend, and the Dragon Temple isn't exactly the worse place to be isn't it?" said Spyro.

"Maybe you're right Spyro, but I still want to find out who I am one way or another!!" insisted Flame.

"How about we leave the temple? The three of us!! Even if we can't find where I came from, at least we would be exploring!! Who cares what the old geezers think!!"

"I don't know about that Flame," said Spyro, "I mean, yeah its not as dangerous as it used to be, but still…maybe we should plan this out first don't you think?"

"Ahhh come on guys!! It'll be fun!!" said Flame.

"I mean, aren't there things you want to find out about yourselves?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spyro remembered the dream he had had that night, about how there were other worlds out there, yet the one that had always stuck out in his mind was that purple dragoness. Why did she seem so familiar to him? Was there some sort of link he shared?

Perhaps he'd ask Ignitus tonight...

"Well... sure I do, its just that..." replied Spyro awkwardly.

He found the Fire Guardian in the throne room, gazing at the large dragon statue. Spyro noticed that from time to time Ignitus would spend his time alone, seemingly lost in thought and basically oblivious to the world around him. He often wondered what his Guardian was thinking; was it about his life? His struggles? His failures? Regrets?

"Spyro!!" said Ignitus, spinning around in surprise, wings unfurling, "I didn't notice you come in here."

"Ignitus, can I speak to you for a second?" asked Spyro.

"Well of course Spyro!!" replied Ignitus in his usual sagely manner.

"Anyhow, last night, I had this strange dream… It was kind of odd actually."

"A dream you say?" replied Ignitus, sounding intrigued and a bit conerned now, "Did you speak with the Chronicler again Spyro?" asked Ignitus.

That would have been Spyro's first guess also. "No, it wasn't the Chronicler. It was a female voice."

"A female voice?"

"She gave me this warning about the opening of other worlds, and that the Dark Master may want to take control of them."

"I know this all sounds very vague, but do you have any idea what she might have meant?"

"I cannot deny that there are indeed the existence of worlds that exist simultaneously outside of ours. In fact, there was a time where one could traverse between the worlds, yet when the Dark Master began regaining strength, the dragon elders sealed off the portals in order to isolate him in this one world."

"What about Flame then?" asked Spyro, "Since nobody seems to know where he comes from, maybe that means he's from a different world from ours, but if the gates to the other worlds were sealed, how did he manage to get here?"

"Only the ancestors can know for sure; but perhaps there was a rift that opened for a split second on that world where Flame had come from, which allowed him to arrive in our world," answered Ignitus.

"Yeah," said Spyro. With growing concern, Spyro asked, "Ignitus, could the Dark Master be trying to spread his influence to these other worlds? I mean, his forces have been rather quiet ever since Gaul was defeated, but do you think this is possible?"

That made Ignitus pause for a moment, "I cannot say for certain, but if there is any dragon who is capable of opening a path to other worlds and spreading his darkness there, Malefor would be the one."

"Yeah," said Spyro. If the Dark Master were plotting such a scheme, there was little that Spyro knew of that could prevent him from doing so before it was too late.

"There's another thing I want to talk to you about. I don't know if this is relevant or not, but in the dream, there were these platforms with pictures of female dragons on them. There were four of these platforms, but the only one I recognized was Cynder. Here's the thing, since one of them had Cynder on it, there is the possibility that the other three might be connected to me in some way, and I was hoping that you might know any of the others.

"Go on…" said Ignitus.

"Well, one of them was pure white. At first, I thought she was an ice dragon like Cyril, but she didn't seem to be any of the regular elements, which I found rather strange."

"White you say?" replied Ignitus, sounding rather intrigued.

"One thing I should inform you of is before the resurgence of the dark master, there was another species of dragons called the Metallic Dragons. As you pointed out, these type of dragons did not abide by any of the standard elements, therefore, instead of breathing fire or ice, they utilize psionic abilities such as telepathy and the power of healing."

"But you don't have any idea who that dragoness might have been?" said Spyro.

"Unfortunately no," replied Ignitus.

"There was another portrait of a dragoness, but this one was a fire dragon. She looked to be a few years older than me, but much more fierce-looking. She also seemed to be accompanied by a faun."

"Well, female fire dragons do tend to be the more aggressive sort, so that wouldn't be a particularly differentiating feature. But to be associating with a faun would be a rather strange friendship for sure."

"There used to be many more dragons around, but when the dark master's minions gained in strength, many of these dragons were either killed or fled voluntarily or forcibly to other realms. As to why the Dark Master's forces did not try and exile myself and the other guardians, perhaps he felt that he could extract our power and use it for himself. It is also one of the reasons why I decided to hide your egg, and once he knew of your existence he would stop at nothing to destroy you."

"Hmmmm…"

"But it's the last platform that is bothering me the most. It's the one I remember most vividly.

"Go on, I'm listening,"

"The last platform had a picture of a purple dragoness," said Spyro.  
Ignitus' eyes went wide.

"What did you say? A purple dragoness? Are you certain?" cried Ignitus.

"I swear its true Ignitus. It was a purple dragoness. For some reason, something also tells me that I've seen this dragon before. I know it's impossible but somehow, she felt familiar. As for the picture itself, since there weren't any wars or anything like that between the time that Malefor was sealed until the time he began to regain his power, the picture couldn't have been too old… Also, I'm sure the voice that had been in that dream belonged to her, I don't know why I think that but I just know that's true."

"No…it can't be…" muttered Ignitus.

"Can't be who? Who was this purple dragoness? It sounds like you know something about her…"

Spyro had just noticed that Ignitus wasn't listening any more. His jaw had fallen limp, while the rest of his body was trembling. Yet it was those empty, pain-wrenched eyes that said it all. It was as if some horrible, painful memory that the guardian had ruthlessly attempted to purge, and stuffed in the furthest end of his soul, had suddenly come back in full force.

"Ignitus?" said Spyro, leaning his head forward.

Ignitus flinched away, "Leave me be Spyro…" he murmured.

"But Ignitus!! You haven't told me what you know about that purple dragoness!! Do you know if anything happened to her?"

"Please Spyro!!" begged Ignitus, clenching his jaw, "It's just that…I just…don't want to talk about her right now…"

Ignitus clenched his eyes shut and then turned around and left the room, leaving Spyro more concerned and confused than ever.  
[/i]

(Due to the lack of reviews and views, I had come to the conclusion that nobody cared to look at this story anymore. However, I received a message that someone wanted me to continue with the story, so I went back and looked at all my notes to arrange them into a chapter. Hope somebody will give me a review


	4. Chapter 4, The Purple Dragoness

Chapter 4

**The Purple Dragoness**

Ignitus was not a happy dragon.

The other three guardians, Volteer, the Guardian of Thunder, Terrador, the Guardian of Earth, and Cyril, the Guardian of Ice, immediately noticed something was amiss when Ignitus came into the room.

"You appear to have quite a bit on your mind my friend," said Terrador, "Care to share with us?"

"By the Ancestors, I don't want to talk about it," retorted Ignitus in a rather harsh tone.

"I've heard you use that tone of voice before," said Volteer, "And I suspect it has to do with certain old memories that you rather would not relive."

Ignitus took a deep breath. The three others knew Ignitus all too well; after all not only were they his fellow guardians, but they had also been friends ever since they were young.

"Spyro…he told me he had a dream last night."

"A dream then? I suppose we'd better hear about it then?" said Cyril.

Reluctantly, Ignitus shared about the dream Spyro had had, about a voice contacting him to tell him the worlds would be opened, how he had to fight dark creatures and that he had seen a picture of a purple dragoness.

"A purple dragoness? Could it possibly be...." said Terrador.

"Katarra is not the only female purple dragon throughout dragonkinds long history, but when I saw the look in young Spyro's eyes..."

"You didn't suppose that you would be able to hide it from young Spyro forever did you Ignitus?" said Cyril, trying to sound diplomatic but failing miserably.

"No, I did not, yet I had been hoping I would be able to tell him about her after the Dark Master had been defeated, not now," said Ignitus.

"I understand your concern," said Volteer. "But you know Spyro. He is going to want answers from you."

"I cannot, not about Kata" said Ignitus, "The potential consequences of that knowledge that could prove to be to all our detriment. Suppose I were to tell Spyro everything, about the true circumstances of her dissappearance. Now imagine how easily the Dark Master could manipulate Spyro in that fashion."

"Then what do you plan on doing then Ignitus?" said Terrador, "He will find out the truth sooner or later, but until then do you plan to run the risk of deceiving Spyro and then him finding out what you said was a lie?"

Ignitus clenched his teeth.

"I know you don't like to hear it Ignitus," continued Cyril, unperturbed by his colleague's hostility, "Yet continuing to deceive Spyro would be rather worse than telling him the truth. You lied to young Torch about the fate of his mother and unborn brother, and when he found out found you had deceived him, he never fully forgave you for it. Are you willing to betray Spyro's faith in you the same way?"

That made Ignitus freeze in his tracks. Spyro looked up to Ignitus as his role model, the shining example to follow. He could not possibly bring himself to betray Spyro in the same fashion he had betrayed Torch. Yet the memories Ignitus possessed of those horrible days when the apes and the Dark Master's forces attacked, they were so painful on so many levels. He had lost his mate, then sent his young son down the river, then lost his mother, and then his oldest son and his daughter to the darkness, and then his oldest friends. Yet when he had given up on all hope, Spyro, his youngest, had miraculously returned. Now, he had something to live for again. He would not fail Spyro.

"Very well... I'll tell him about his mother..." said Ignitus.

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Spyro laid down in his cot, unable to sleep. Sparx was already in dreamland, sleeping in the miniature bed on the opposite side of the room, which left him time to think. All he could think about was the expression that Ignitus had when he had mentioned that purple dragoness. It was one of fear, pain, loss... He had seen that same sort of haunted expression on Cynder's face, when she looked back upon the time she was still Dark Cynder, whose memories she wished to suppress.

At that moment, a large figure entered the room. It was Ignitus.

"Spryo..."

Spyro raised his head toward the guardian.

"I do believe that you have the right to know about the previous purple dragon."

"So that means you know something about her?"

There was a pause, "I do Spyro. In fact... I knew her quite well in fact."

"Wait, how can this be? Didn't you say that purple dragons were only born once every ten generations?" said Spyro. Flame would often call Ignitus and the Guardians geezers, but Spyro seriously doubted they were THAT old.

"That is normally true, yet think of this Spyro. Since there were purple dragons in the past, why do you think it wasn't until now that the Dark Master sought to destroy the purple dragon?" said Ignitus.

Spyro was at a loss to answer.

Ignitus paused, "Perhaps…perhaps I should just tell you about Katarra first."

"That's the name of the purple dragoness right?" said Spyro, his wings flexing instinctively at the name. Again, there was that uncomfortable, almost tormenting feeling of familiarity.

"When she was born, the Dark Master had been sealed for countless generations and by all appearances wouldn't be escaping any time soon. The Dragon Realms had been at peace, there was harmony between the races and the land was prosperous. Traditions had been established that placed the purple dragon as more a religious symbol, and was kept separate from the rest of society, and was rarely if ever seen in public. This was the life that Kata and all purple dragons since Malefor have lived."

"That sounds like a very boring life, but why did they do this to them?"

"As you know, the purple dragons had immense powers that are far beyond that of the rest of dragonkind. After Malefor, many of the elders feared what would happen if these powers were once again unleashed, so therefore the purple dragons were kept isolated within the Dragon Temple. The Dragon Elders feared the potential corrupting influence of the rest of society would have on them, and potentially lead the purple dragon to darkness. To the rest of dragonkind, the purple dragon was a religious symbol; when I was young I remember praying to them for the purple dragon's blessings." said Ignitus.

"And what about Kata?" asked Spyro, now totally engrossed in the story.

"From the day she hatched, Kata had always fulfilled her duties as a purple dragon dutifully. She prayed to the Great Ancestors above, delivered blessings to the people, as she was obligated to. However, it was not surprising that after being cooped up in the Temple all the time, she started to feel restless. Not only that, she often felt lonely, as she had no friends that were her age," said Ignitus.

Spyro tried to imaging spending his entire life within the Temple, never able to leave its confines for any reason. He reckoned that he would go crazy before long also.

"Ignitus, how did you meet her?"

"It was the two thousandth anniversary since the day that the Dark Master was first placed in convexity, and as one could expect a grand festival was held in the Dragon City of Warfang to commemorate that day. I was a little bit older than you are right now Spyro, and I lived with my mother in a cave a short flight away from the City. I was but a commoner back then, and I had several friends at the Dragonlore Academy, where young dragons went to learn. Volteer, Terrador and Cyril, I knew them ever since I was a hatchling. The three of them had all come from powerful clans stretching back to the days of Malefor. Terrador used to be my biggest rival, while Cyril liked to study old books. Volteer, being the eccentric master of electricity as he is, fancied himself an inventor at the time, and at the day of the festival, I was to be his 'test subject' for one of his crazy inventions at the Festival."

"And what about Kata?" said Spyro insistently, feeling that Ignitus was deliberately trying to get off subject.

"Patience young dragon, I was getting to that. Anyhow, at the morning of the fair. I woke up late, and was rushing to make it to Volteer's exhibition, when while in midair, I nearly crashed into a young dragoness. Naturally, I felt horribly embarrassed, and even more so because of the fact that she was extremely beautiful, but she didn't mind, and Kata introduced herself."

"Wait, you said this was a fair, wouldn't a purple dragon have stuck out?"

"She had planned her 'escape' from the Temple for many months now, and to make sure she wouldn't be conspicuous, she rubbed red volcanic ash all over herself. I must admit in her desguise she made a fairly convincing Fire Dragoness in her disguise. Anyhow, I was about to go on my way, but then Kata asked me if I could show her around the fair, so of course I wasn't going to say no."

It wasn't until in the afternoon when I remembered I was supposed to see Volteer's invention, but then word came that the purple dragoness had gone missing. Everyone started to panic as the authorities tried desperately to find the purple dragoness, myself included, and not once did I suspect that she was right next to me."

"In festivals like these, there are always various shenanigans that are looking to cause trouble to gain attention and infamy, and when word came that the purple dragoness was missing they had their chance. There was a group called the Rhynocs that had been causing trouble for years. At the time, they were led by a rogue magician/scientist named Reptar, who had been banished from the Dragon Realms because of his unethical experiments. Therefore, the Rhynocs used to commotion to cause havoc, and in the ensuing chaos they attacked the inventors square. Myself, Kata and Volteer stood to face them off when everyone else had run away to safety, and succeeded in driving them off. However, when Kata breathed a stream of ice out of her mouth against one of the attackers, the secret was out."

"The first thing on my mind, being the dutiful citizen of the Dragon Realms that I was, was to return Kata back to the Dragon Temple. Yet she begged me not to, because she had never had so much fun before, that she never had friends before, that it was utterly boring being cooped up in the temple all the time and most importantly she liked being around me, so how could I possibly deny her request?"

"During the raid, the Rhynocs had stolen many things from the fair, including Volteer's invention in particular."

"Not that I don't think it was important, but why would the Rhynocs want Volteer's invention?"

"Volteer was actually studying the transferring of matter into electrical currents, but more simply, he was creating a machine that could teleport someone from one panel to another. Obviously, such a machine in the hands of a crackpot who was obsessed with illegally opening portals to another world was bad news and couldn't wait for the slow bureaucratic council of elders to come up with a plan to deal with the Rhynocs."

"Being young and stupid as I was at the time, I came up with this crazy plan that the three of us would go after the Rhynocs and stop Reptar ourselves. So, off we went. We discovered that the Rhynocs had handed over most of the hijacked devices to one of his top subordinates."

"Now...what was his name again? Yes, I think his name was Gnasty Gnorc or something like that. A large brute to be sure, but incredibly, almost comically stupid."

That made Spyro chuckle, he had fought his share of eccentric, over-dramatic underlings and could fully relate to what Ignitus meant.

"Anyhow, we were able to defeat that Gnorc fellow, and thus we were able to recover most of the artifacts stolen from the festival, along with Volteer's invention. Therefore, when I returned to the temple with Kata, I expected to be treated like a hero."

"And were you?"

Ignitus chuckled, "As you know, since the defeat of the Dark Master, the Dragon Realms were governed by the four Guardians, along with a Council of Elders, yet as time passed this governing body had become notoriously corrupt and obsessed with all sorts of petty intrigues. The Guardian of Fire, and head of the Council of Elders, was a dragon named Red, and he was the most corrupt of all of them. He had attained his position through bribery and through the strength of his bloodline, rather than through actual merit. A staunch traditionalist, he held the view that commoners were no better than dirt, so instead of thanking me for helping to recover the artifacts, and paranoid that I was out to disrupt the established social order, he had me arrested instead."

"Arrested? That's absolutely ridiculous!!" cried Spyro.

"Then, I was the subject of the most biased trial in the history of the Dragon Realms. Red and his cohorts came up with this story that I had actually aided the Rhynocs, and that I was to be put on trail for having brutally kidnapped the purple dragoness in hopes of using her as ransom."

"Wouldn't Kata have stood up for you? I mean, wouldn't the word of the purple dragoness be enough to convince everyone that you had not kidnapped her?"

"That's what you would suppose right? However, Red had a very devious tongue, and claimed that she was only saying those things because I had threatened to kill her if she didn't. To add an element of scandal and further besmirch my character, he brought forward several 'witnesses' who claimed that I had forced her to engage in…"

"Huh?"

"Anyhow…" said Ignitus, evasively, "The trial quickly became popular gossip and overnight I became the most famous, or infamous individual in the entire realm. Opinions were divided between the young portraying me as a national hero, while the old seeing me as a lecher, terrorist or worse.  
"Therefore, I was placed in the dungeons for three days. Yet while I was in the processing room, I learned that it had been changed to a death sentence."

"A death sentence?" said Spyro in alarm.

"I languished in the prison for three days, but during that time Volteer, Terrador and Cyril devised an escape plan to get me out. Terrador had actually been a rival of mine, yet after the trial he had had a change a heart and thus during the dead of night dug a passage underneath the prison, and broke me out of the cell, so thus we made a mad dash to escape the prison. However, Red's guards had managed to get us cornered, but fortunately Kata used to commotion to sneak out of the Temple again and bail us out.

Therefore, the five of us left and took refuge in Avalar. After we left, Red, on the grounds of a national emergency, dissolved the Council of Elders and declared himself dictator. He began a campaign of lies, condemning me with being in league with the Dark Master. However, since Kata had so passionately pleaded in my defense at my trial, he also had to make up a story that the purple dragon had gone out of control and had succumbed to darkness.

"Did people actually believe him?" asked Spyro.

"Red used bribes to make several prominent elders comply with his machinations, and he employed the Rhynocs, the Apes and other less than savory mercenaries to keep the peace. Yet everyone knew that it was in fact Red who was crafting all these lies, and the dragons resisted him whenever they could. It came to nobody's surprise that we later found out that Red had in fact been in collaboration with the Rhynocs all along, secretly financing them with gems from our vaults and had in fact planned the attack during the fair.

Therefore, we were able to gather others to our cause to march against Red and his cohorts. Anyhow, to make a long story short; we took out Red and Reptar's minions one after another, then defeated Reptar. Lastly, we went after Red at the Dragon Temple, and placed him under arrest.

Thus, the Dragonlands were saved, and order was restored. Then, after all that, I did the most daring thing of all."

"What was that?"

"I…"

"I asked Kata to…"

"You asked her to what?" asked Spyro.

Ignitus took a deep breath. There was a distinct moment of hesitation.

"I-I think that will be enough for tonight, its getting rather late."

"Well all right," replied Spyro, feeling rather disappointed, "Still, it was a very nice story."

"Don't worry Spyro, I'll tell you the rest some other time," replied Ignitus, though he sounded rather non-committal as to when that 'other time' would be.

"You promise Ignitus?" said Spyro. There was a moment of hesitation.

"I promise..." the Guardian of Fire responded.

"Good night Spyro…"

Ignitus left the room, leaving Spyro as contented he had felt in quite a while. Yet Spyro was not blind to the fact that something had happened afterward. He knew full well that the next story was not quite so happy, and that for some reason, they had become separated. However, he had faith in Ignitus; he had never broken a promise to Spyro before, and there was no reason to believe he would start now...

Yet as he fell asleep, something about Ignitus' story still bother him....

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So, hope you liked that chapter. I had always been curious about how Ignitus became the Guardian of Fire, so I created a small tale about it that frankly should deserve a much larger story.


	5. Chapter 5, Painful Recollections

Chapter 5, Painful Recollections

Authors note: If there is still anybody who has interest in this story, then I sincerely apologize that it has taken me so long to update it. I have been so busy this semester with school I have had no time to work on it, and I forgot about it until I saw a review this month saying I should continue the story. Now that I have break, I might write a bit more, and hopefully it won't take another six months for an update. As for this chapter, you might find it very interesting.

Ignitus was in deep thought when he returned to his cot that night. For the longest time, since that terrible day, he had sought to hide away those awful memories. He did not expect that he would ever be able to get over them fully, as simply seeing Spyro was enough to remind him of it from time to time. Yet until now, Ignitus had thought he had successfully moved on. He had told Spyro about Kata, as Spyro had asked him to, and was frankly rather shocked and somewhat dismayed that he had been unable to make the connection.

That's when it dawned on him. Spyro had never lived with other dragons up until a few years ago, and he was therefore ignorant about how families worked. And he had only told Spyro half of the story. The other half of the story…

That was when, all these terrible memories had come crashing down upon him.

Before those dark days had come, Ignitus had been the happiest dragon in the world. He had a wonderful loving mate, and they had had two beautiful little ones, Torch and Firaga, both of them Fire Dragons. When Kata had told Ignitus that she had another one on the way, there was no reason to believe why the third would be any different.

That was until they learned that they had actually conceived a purple dragon, on the year of the Dragon no less. Not quite something that happened every day.

At first, the dragons weren't sure whether to be celebrate or bemoan the fact that a purple dragon had been conceived. The occurrence was simply too strange. Some made dire predictions of impending doom. There were some that believed that the coming of another purple dragon was a blessing, and would lead to a new golden age. There were still others who had theorized both predictions within the same prophesy.

Ignitus had never believed all that prophesy ape-shit. Their new little one would be treated no differently than Torch and Firaga. This seemed to be further evidenced by the fact that Kata had laid her egg without incident. Firaga was but a toddler then, so she had hardly been aware that there would be a new hatchling. Yet he remembered how excited Torch had been when he had learned that he was going to have a younger brother. Ignitus remembered that during the night, when he guarded Kata's nest as was customary for a good mate, Torch would crawl up next to him to help out, because that's what big brothers were supposed to do.

But then…everything started to go wrong.

The apes had been a problem for the dragons for years, their grudge against dragonkind extending back to an ancient war, a war whose actual events and the reasons that it was fought for shrouded by the fog of time. From what Ignitus knew from draconic legends, before that war, the apes had once been a proud bipedal race called the humans, that had built an advanced civilization, unlike anything dragon kind had known before or since. The various dragon clans had lived in fear and awe of these apes; legends told of ape cities that extended outwards for miles upon miles, with buildings that stretched into the heavens themselves, and were adept with magicks and machines whose intricacies baffled dragon kind back then and still did to this day.

The story went however, that the apes had grown arrogant and attempted to destroy dragon kind once and for all, thus making the world theirs once and for all. However, the dragons, led and inspired by the first purple dragon, Malefor, had fought back, and had defeated the apes after that devastating war that nearly destroyed the world. After their defeat, it was said that a curse had been put upon the apes, turning them into the ignorant, brutish creatures they were today, so would never again be able to regain the strength that they once had, and since then the mighty ape civilizations had degenerated into a series of disorganized, warring clans. Only the purple dragon had protested against the elder's actions against the apes, that it was wrong to banish an entire species that in time could have helped dragonkind, and when the council had denied them, he led a group of these apes into rebellion against the council. Yet Malefor lost that battle, and the elders, fearing his power, banished him into convexity for all time. It was the biggest mistake dragon kind was to ever make. As years turned to decades, decades into centuries and centuries into millennia, the story was changed to say that Malefor had become arrogant and had wanted to rule over the world with an iron claw. One could only imagine what it could be like to be in limbo for thousands upon thousands of years, as Malefor grew more and more bitter and began to hate his own kind for what they had done, and waited for the time to strike back...

After the death of Reptar and the decline of the Rhynocs, the apes had slowly risen to fill the power vacuum, culminating when Gaul rose to power to become the chieftain of the Apes. Somehow, the Dark Master had contacted Gaul, telling him of the great power the apes had once possessed over dragon kind, and promising the return to those glory days of those earlier apes. The Dark Master had granted Gaul and the Apes some of the old arcane magicks and weapons those ancient ape civilizations had utilized. Everyone, including Ignitus, had discounted the increasing threat that they posed, and their realization had come too late.

The attack had caught the dragons completely by surprise. Ignitus knew that in the long run, there was no way that the apes could win against the dragons and their allied animal races, however, Gaul, with the advice of the Dark Master, had timed his attack well. The laying of a purple egg had created a sense of uncertainty and insecurity for the dragons, and when there was a reversal, panic ensued. It seemed to confirm to those dragons that the coming of a purple dragon now would be a curse, and with these chaotic times, such irrational arguments had gained validity with many dragons.

During a meeting at the Council Chambers, Lord Diamon, leader of the Metallic Dragons, had proposed that to stop the spreading of this curse, the purple egg had to destroyed…

Ignitus had remembered throwing himself at Lord Diamon, for even suggesting that he should kill his own son, and that day the Council of Elders had erupted into a brawl. Therefore, at the worst possible moment, as the apes were advancing and killing dragons, the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons reawakened their old racial bigotries and started a short but costly civil war. It ended with the Metallic Dragons fleeing to the realm from which they came, where they would be supposedly safe from the Dark Master and the Apes, but the winner.

This was also the Year of the Dragon, a year where there would be the most dragons being born. As these were dangerous times, some way had to be found to protect the eggs from harm, so therefore, the mother dragons throughout the land entrusted them to the Dragon Guardians.

What a stupid move that had been!!

Yet there was no way that Ignitus and the other Guardians could have possibly refused them, especially when Kata intervened on their behalf. After all, wasn't it their responsibility to serve and protect dragon-kind, especially its most vulnerable members? But when looking back on it, there was no way that Ignitus and the Guardians could have provided adequate protection for all those little ones.

If something happened to the eggs, well, there went an entire generation of dragons. It was an opportunity that Gaul could not pass up. And so came that terrible day…

Gaul and his monkeys had appeared in the Dragon Temple at night, silently killing the guards, and Ignitus and the other Guardians didn't wake up until they were almost at the egg chamber. Ignitus quickly had his mother get Torch and Firaga out of there first…it was a brutal decision, but he had to prioritize. Yet there was no way to get all the eggs out of there before Gaul's raiders had reached the egg chamber. He and Kata had fought off wave after wave of apes, and it seemed that they would be able to hold them off. But then, Gaul changed strategy and ordered his minions to attack the eggs.

There was no way that Ignitus, and especially Kata, would allow them to destroy infants, so priority was shifted to protect them first. Ignitus remembered that terrible desperate fight, while holding his own son in his claw, trying to save the little ones. Yet it was a losing battle, as they were vastly outnumbered, and the apes broke one egg, then another, then another.

Kata could take no more. She would sooner sacrifice herself than to see them destroy any more little ones. Ignitus remembered the last thing she said to him as they nuzzled for the final time.

"I love you dear, take care of little one..." Then Kata used her power to knock Ignitus out of the room, and then form a barrier around the egg chamber. She opened up portals, using her powers to transport the eggs to a safer place, and in doing so drained her of powers. There had been a bright light that filled the egg chamber, blinding Ignitus.

A few moments later, when the light subsided, Katarra, the purple dragoness, the love of his life, was gone, just like that…

He remembered being almost frozen with despair for the next hours, so shocked at her disappearance he couldn't even cry. Then, afterwards, he had made the decision to send little Spyro down the river. Looking back upon it, he wasn't sure why he had done it in the first place.

Perhaps it was the fear that Gaul might capture Spyro's egg, and once hatched, would hand him over to the Dark Master to corrupt him, as had so fatefully had with Cynder, and that death was a better fate for the purple dragon in this case than to live a life reaping destruction. Perhaps he felt he couldn't entrust himself with protecting a little one anymore. Yes, someone would find the egg and they'd raise his hatchling from safety. He was going to be alright… Or so he had told himself again and again.

Yet that was the easy part compared with what had come next. After sending Spyro's egg down the river, Ignitus had fled to the hiding spot where his mother was watching over his children. Firaga was crying and sobbing uncontrollably, as Ignitus' mother did her best to calm her down. Yet it was just as well that she was far too young at the time to understand the calamity that had unfurled.

Then, Torch had crawled up to him, noticed that neither the egg nor his mother was with him, stared him with a tearful, terrified gaze, and asked.

"Where did mom and little brother go?"

Ignitus had panicked when his son had asked that simple but terrifying question, and in his desperation to assure him that everything was well, he told him.

"They're…they're… they'll be coming soon enough"

How was he supposed to tell his own son that both his mother and his little brother were gone? And worse, that it was his fault that they were gone? Yet worst of all was the fact that he had lied to his son about it, and Torch, being the intelligent young dragon that he was, immediately figured what was really the case.

"Tell me the truth dad, they're gone aren't they?" Torch had said with a blank voice. Yet Ignitus merely stood there in paralyzed with silence, and it had been at that moment, when Ignitus had felt like the biggest piece of shit in the universe.

Ignitus gnashed his teeth at the memory. He had failed in his duty to protect his mate, sent his own un-hatched youngest son down the river and lied to his oldest son.

Needless to say, to Torch, his father was no longer the great hero, the role model, the pillar of strength that he had been before, like it was with Spyro nowadays. From then on, Ignitus in his oldest sons eyes was a coward, a fraud, and worst of all, a liar. That had been, by far, the worst day of his entire life.

After the raid at the Dragon Temple, the war against the apes and the Dark Master quickly began to turn for the worse. Having lost an entire generation of young dragons in a single night, many dragons fell into despair, fleeing the lands or falling to the Dark Master's forces. Ignitus should have known that it would have been better to send off Torch and Firaga with his mother to a safer realm, yet the loss of Kata and little Spyro had traumatized him. He wouldn't have been able to bear being alone, so Ignitus stubbornly kept the two with him.

Then, Dark Cynder had arrived. Ignitus had known the instant she arrived who Cynder truly was; her mother had been one of Ignitus' friends and found it extraordinarily difficult to fight her. Ignitus' mother was dead by then, unlike so many of her kind during those times, her death had been peaceful. Yet for the majority of dragonkind, they were either killed, or they fled.

During that time, Ignitus had begun to train Torch in the arts of combat, so that one day he would take over as the Guardian of Fire. He was extremely talented, and progressed rapidly, yet Ignitus knew that his oldest trained not so that his father would be proud of him, but rather that he would not be a for his father's dishonor.

He remembered having an argument with Torch one day after training, and were so engrossed with the argument they had forgot about little Fira. They had captured his daughter, and a while later Ignitus had received a message promising 'terrible things' would happen to her if he would not tell them what had happened with the purple dragon.

At that point, Ignitus was not sure whether Spyro was even alive at that point, but didn't feel confident enough to try and bluff them. He had seen what had happened to Cynder, and there was little doubt that the Dark Master would also corrupt and artificially mature his daughter as well if he did not comply. Therefore, when the Dark Master returned to physical form, he would use Dark Cynder and Firaga to sire a new generation of dark dragons that would be completely loyal to his rule. Yet the other choice was that if Ignitus told them what he knew about Spyro's egg to free Firaga, then they might capture Spyro instead once he was found, and corrupt him instead, which would have been even worse. Once again, Ignitus had been placed in a position where he would have to sell out one of his own children.

When Ignitus and the Guardians had floundered in indecision, Torch, who by that time was about as old as Spyro was when Ignitus had first seen him alive, had taken it upon himself to rescue his sister. When Ignitus found out about it, it not only worried him, it also shamed him. It had demonstrated to Ignitus that Torch did not believe his father possessed the strength or the courage to protect the family anymore, so therefore it had fallen to him to protect the family. After all, his father had failed to protect mother and his younger brother, and had deceived him, so who could blame him?

In any case, Torch had faced off against Dark Cynder in Convexity by himself, and had lost after a long battle, but at the very least had freed his sister from the Dark Master. The last thing Ignitus saw of his older son was that he was thrown into Convexity, holding his sister, before the portal closed off. Then, Ignitus was alone...

He had been completely inconsolable for the next great while, and over the next few years, Dark Cynder, Gaul and the Dark Masters minions continued their path of destruction. He felt completely helpless when Volteer, Terrador and Cyril, his fellow Guardians, and his friends from hatchling hood, were either killed or captured by the Dark Masters forces. It had been at that point, he had completely given up all hope...

Yet that was when he found Spyro...

From that moment on, Ignitus had committed himself to his youngest son, vowing not to fail him as he had failed his oldest son. There were times where he wanted to reveal that he was indeed Spyro's father, yet perhaps out of fear, or bad karma, had decided not to. To Spyro, Ignitus was still the perfect role model, the father figure who could do no wrong, wise, strong, the one he looked up to, and if Ignitus told him, Spyro would then inevitably ask who his mother was, and then Ignitus would have to tell him how he had failed to protect her, and then failed to protect his older siblings. He remembered how humiliated and fraudulent he had felt when Torch had lost his faith in his father, and he couldn't bear the same happening to Spyro. Perhaps he was a fool for thinking in this manner, yet he knew how easily the Dark Master could use family as a weapon against Spyro. Should Spyro were to ever be placed in such a situation... no, he would sacrifice himself without any hesitation, as he should have when Firaga had been captured, or when Torch had faced off against Dark Cynder.

Ignitus then thought about the dream that Spyro had described to him. Could it have actually been Kata? He wished he could be inside Spyro's dream for himself, yet Ignitus knew it to be impossible, so he could only speculate. Ignitus again reflected upon her fate, and what her current state of existence was at the moment, given that she was too a purple dragon, and what the purple dragons fate was to ensure the seal on the Dark Master remained…

Spyro was the only one who could stop the Dark Master, this was beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, if Spyro knew about the true circumstances about his mother... Ignitus knew that Spyro would do whatever it took to save her, no matter the cost, even if it meant freeing the Dark Master….

Ignitus shook his head. No... He would not tell Spyro about his mother's fate. If it meant that the Ancestors cursed him and sent his soul to the powers below for eternity, that was fine. If that meant that Spyro would never forgive Ignitus for it, as Torch had never forgiven him for failing to save his mother, so be it.

With that last thought, Ignitus was finally able to sleep.

* * *

[Authors note: Yeah, its still slow, but it sets up a lot of future plot lines. Maybe it'll get me going to finally add chapters on a consistent basis. As always, reviews help. Thank you...


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